Planning a triathlon training week: Joe Friel’s approach

The annual plan indicates the direction, but the preparation happens on specific days with schedules, commutes, and real-world conditions. Chapter 8 of The Triathlete’s Training Bible takes planning down to this level.

Friel seeks to show how swimming, cycling, running, and strength sessions can work together. The issue isn't just fitting everything into the schedule: it's allowing each stimulus to fulfill its function.

The Week Depends on the Season Phase

A base week and a week close to a race might contain the same sports, but their priorities differ. In the base phase, the work establishes abilities that will support specific preparation. Later on, certain sessions begin to more directly reflect the demands of the event.

The chapter also reminds us that the season varies in its degree of structure. Early preparation and transition phases can have more flexibility and room for other activities. The athlete doesn't need to live the entire year as if they were in the final weeks before the main race.

This shift in emphasis helps preserve the purpose of each phase and avoids treating every week as an attempt to demonstrate the best possible performance.

Distributing Abilities, Not Just Sports

Writing down "swim" or "run" on the calendar doesn't yet explain the workout's purpose. Friel proposes linking sessions to the previously described abilities: aerobic endurance, technical skills, strength, and relevant advanced abilities.

This way, the plan makes explicit what is being developed and what is being maintained. The choice depends on an athlete's limiters, the sport, the availability of training venues, and the competition's characteristics.

The book presents weekly examples as organizational guides. The discussion itself acknowledges that each person's schedule and needs may produce a different structure.

Key Sessions and Recovery Room

The most demanding workouts receive special attention in their distribution. Instead of evaluating each one in isolation, the athlete needs to consider the sequence in which they will be performed and the available recovery.

In triathlon, this becomes more complex because an effort in a given sport can interfere with the conditions for the next session. Alternating sports does not automatically eliminate accumulated fatigue.

Friel also discusses possibilities for cycles longer than seven days. This alternative seeks to create more space between key sessions when the traditional weekly organization doesn't serve the athlete well.

The standard calendar is a practical reference, but the response to training remains part of the decision.

How to Distribute Volume

The chapter presents ways to distribute the week's hours or TSS among days and sports. The author links each leg's share in the race to training time decisions, adding the need to pay attention to limiters.

A weaker sport may receive more investment, without the strongest one being neglected to the point of compromising overall performance. Planning seeks to find a balance between developing and maintaining abilities.

Strength work also needs to be factored in. Treating it as an invisible add-on distorts the perception of time and the program's total demand.

The chapter uses tables to detail the distribution, but they depend on coherence with the rest of the plan. Changing the days requires reviewing how the sessions relate to each other.

Combination Workouts and Specific Preparation

Friel includes combination sessions in the discussion, linking their use to the goal and the time of the season. The combination can serve to prepare for triathlon's demands, but it must remain subordinate to what one wishes to develop.

The logic avoids adding complexity just because the race brings together three sports. The chosen sequence has a time and recovery cost and must make sense in that athlete's preparation.

As the competition approaches, the chapter also addresses volume reduction and how to stay in touch with relevant efforts without maintaining the load of the most demanding weeks.

What to Do When Workouts Are Missed

The author discusses interruptions of different durations and acknowledges that the reason, time of season, and condition upon return change the answer. Missing one session does not present the same problem as being away for weeks.

Instead of viewing the program as an accumulated debt, the plan needs to be reorganized. Some key sessions can be rescheduled, while others no longer fit. The remaining set of workouts must remain coherent with the possible preparation.

When the time off involves illness or loss of fitness, the book's discussion on returning is conservative. This summary presents the principle of revising the plan, without turning the chapter's scenarios into individual recovery guidance.

Editorial example: the workout that changed days

An athlete moves a demanding session because work took up its scheduled time. By placing it on the following day, they realize it would be next to another priority workout and would also alter the weekend's recovery.

The editorial example shows why rescheduling requires looking beyond the free slot on the calendar. The organization functions like a network of related decisions.

The chapter ends by reinforcing that a plan must remain up to date. Reviewing the upcoming week in light of the previous one is part of training with purpose, and not a sign that the plan has failed.

Reference: FRIEL, Joe. The Triathlete’s Training Bible. 5th ed. Chap. 8, “Planning a Week”. Summarized in my own words from the provided English edition. Weekly examples and tables not reproduced. Next article: periodization alternatives.

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Cada um no seu ritmo. Juntos no caminho.